Popular symbols used to identify the transgender community frequently consist of modified traditional gender symbols that combine elements from both the male and female symbols.

The most commonly, universally accepted transgender pride symbol depicts a circle with a cross projecting from the bottom, forming the symbol of Venus (female), an arrow projecting from the top-right, forming the symbol of Mars (male), and with an additional striked arrow (combining the female cross and male arrow) projecting from the top-left. The symbol is most commonly rendered in blue with a pink triangle as its background.

Although this particular configuration of the male and female gender symbols may have been used before, the present accepted opinion is that it originated with the American “Gender Talk” radio station sometime before 2002. The symbol originated from a drawing by Holly Boswell of North Carolina, USA. Boswell passed the design on to Wendy Pierce of the IFGE, who in turn passed it on to the founder of “Gender Talk,” Nancy Nangeroni, for computer generation.

Other variations of the traditional male/female symbols have been designed to represent the transgender community as well, as depicted below:

A

B

C

D

C = This version of the transgender symbol includes a strikethrough in the center, to include those who don't identify as male or female. D = The transgender community adopted this symbol for its hermaphroditic meaning.

Aside from the basic, standard transgender symbols that were designed to represent "transgender" as a gender itself, other popular, variant symbols were also designed to represent the transgender community, as well as other specific areas of transgender groups and/or issues. These symbols include the following:

Inverted Purple Triangle:

This symbol features the universal transgender symbol set inside an inverted purple triangle, and is commonly used as a universal symbol for the transgender community.

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"Trans-Activism Symbol"

This symbol is used to represent the transgender activism movement.

Trans-Activism Symbol:

This symbol is used to represent the transgender activism movement

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"Trans-Health Symbol"

This symbol is used to represent transgender health and medicine issues.

Trans-Health Symbol:

This symbol is used to represent transgender health and medicine issues.

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"Transphobia"

An exclamation point set inside the traditional inverted purple triangle is the international symbol for transphobia.

Transphobia:

An exclamation point set inside the traditional inverted purple triangle is the international symbol for transphobia.